Other notable winners included Indian superstar Sania Mirza, playing her first match since marrying Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik in April, and Mirjana Lucic.

Croatian Lucic looked set for a glittering career when she burst onto the scene in 1997, winning a WTA Tour title at the age of 15 before reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon two years later.

But personal and financial problems took their toll and she slid off the radar, barely playing at all between 2003 and 2007. Since then the 28-year-old has been playing largely on the ITF circuit in the USA, improving her ranking to 195th, and today's 6-1 6-2 win over Mariana Duque Marino was her first in the main draw of a WTA Tour event for more than three years.

Britons Katie O'Brien and Naomi Broady both went out in the first round.

O'Brien, the British number three, was beaten 6-3 6-4 by Kazakhstan's Sesil Karatantcheva while Broady, ranked eighth nationally, went down 6-4 6-4 to American Shenay Perry, who is 150 places above the Briton in the world rankings.